Palappam (Kerala Rice Crepes)

Here is a long overdue post. Palappam (Rice Crepe) is a common Breakfast food in Kerala which is served with Vegetable or Meat Curries. I have been getting many requests for the traditional Palappam recipe made by soaking and grinding Rice. I used to make Palappams with Rice Flourbut after having laid my hands on a lovely Preethi Mixie, I started grinding rice for Palappams. The recipe for Palappam varies from region to region or probably household to household. 🙂

Some use Grated Coconut, while other use Coconut Milk. Some use Whole Dairy Milk instead of Coconut Milk. Some use Yeast for fermentation while others use Coconut Water or Toddy.

I make Appams for parties and whenever we have guests. Though it is time consuming, the end result is well worth the effort.

Ingredients

Raw Rice – 2 cups (Use any short or long grain rice)

Cooked Rice – 3/4 cup approx

Yeast – 1.5 to 2 tsp

Sugar – 1 tbsp + 3-4 tbsp or as needed

Salt – to taste

Thick Coconut Milk – 1/2 cup

Ice cubes – as needed

Water – as needed

Preparation Method

Soak the rice for atleast 6 hours or leave it overnight.

Wash and drain the rice and keep aside.

Dissolve the yeast and 1 tbsp sugar in 1/2 cup of lightly warm water. Keep it aside for ten minutes until it foams.

Next, you need to grind the rice in several batches. Grind around two handfuls of raw rice along with a few tablespoons of cooked rice and very little water. I add 2-3 ice cubes while grinding each batch to prevent the mixie from overheating. Grind until you get a smooth batter.

Transfer the batter to large bowl. Continue doing this with the remaining rice.

While grinding the last batch, add the yeast solution to the mixie.

Leave the batter in a warm place for 6-8 hours. I usually leave it overnight. Enusre that the bowl is large enough to prevent the batter from overflowing after fermentation.

The batter would have risen after fermentation and will look foamy. Stir the batter and check the consistency. Add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of coconut milk to make a batter of medium consistency. If the batter appears thin after fermentation, skip the coconut milk.

At this stage, you can start preparing the Appams with this batter or for extra lacy appams, leave the batter untouched for half an hour. The batter will froth and rise again. Spoon the foamy layer from the batter and transfer it to another dish. Use this foamy batter for making Appams.

Heat a Palappam Chatti and lightly grease it with oil.

Once the Palappam Chatti is hot, pour a ladle full of batter and swirl the pan in one direction so that the batter spreads to the edges.

Keep it covered and allow the Appam to cook for a few minutes.

Once cooked the edges of the appam will start separating from the pan. Remove the appam carefully with a spatula.

Note

You may need to adjust the amount of cooked rice used in this recipe. If you use too much of boiled rice, the appams will become sticky. If the rice used is less, appams won’t be soft. Try using 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cooked rice but not more than that.

While grinding the rice, try adding very little water. The unfermented batter should be thick as it will rise and thin out after fermentation.

Hi,
I am planning to have appam for a dinner party. I am expectig around 25 adults. how much rice should I take? also, does raw rice means basmati rice or iddly rice? I need to make a veggie and non veggie dish. Will kadala curry or veg stew be a good combination (non of them are malayalis)? Can I prepare appams before and heat it before serving?Hope you can help me?

Hi RS,
Idly Rice or any other raw rice (Pachari) will be enough. Basmathi is not required. If you use 5 cups of rice, you can make atleast 30 appams. Vegetable Stew, Veg Khurma, Green Peas Masala all go well with Appam. If you have a casserole, you can prepare appams before hand. If you heat the appams, they may lose their softness. Prepare the appams one hour before the guests arrive. Arrange it on a tray and cover it tightly with a plastic food wrap so that the moisture is retained. This way the appams will remain soft.